V. I. Lenin

Outline of a Report on the Political Situation{1}

Written:Written at the end of 1911Published:First published in 1961 in Vol. 21 of the Fifth Russian edition of theCollected Works.

      Printed from the original.Source:Lenin
	  Collected Works,

      Progress Publishers,1977,

      Moscow,Volume 41,

      pages243.3-245.1.Translated:Yuri SdobnikovTranscription\Markup:R. CymbalaCopyleft:V. I. Lenin Internet Archive (www.marxists.org)
      © 2004

      Permission is granted to copy and/or distribute this document under the
      terms of theGNU Free Documentation License.

Political Situation

1.Crop failure—and the famine. “Food”
campaign—Lidvaliad.{2}

2.Stolypin’s “agrarian reform”: bourgeois wine poured into
serf-owning wineskins. They burst.

3.December 1908 about the Stolypin
reform{3}and failure of the liquidators and theVperyodpeople to understand.

4.Commissary trials: stealing.

5.Mismanagement and disorder.—Cadet and Octobrist press. Flight from St. Petersburg to Moscow,
lorry runs, construction of railways, Russian industry in the foreign
market, public education and Kasso’s
“broom”{4}— ——sighs, oh’s and ah’s, and regrets all over the
place.

6.The bourgeoisie craves for the bourgeois system. It wants to “wash
the wineskin without dipping it into the water”.

7.Revolution is the only way. Fear, hatred, mistrust—against the
tide.

8.“Against the tide”. For the revolution. The working class and the
revolution. For revolution
  (n o t“universal suffrage”) is the slogan which sums up
the political situation anddeterminesthe whole content of Party
agitation and propaganda (in particular, before the Fourth Duma).

CropfailureCommissary trialsPersiaKasso and routThe Jews and the “nationalisation of trade”.

T h e  W o r k i n g  C l a s s  a n d  t h e
R e v o l u t i o n

1.The “revival”, of which everyone is talking, is a symptom of the
fresh upsurge of the revolution.

2.Attitude to the revolution that was: spite, fear,
hatred—cowardice, scepticism, lack of spirit—attitude of the working
class (“you’ll get another 1905”).

3.Tasks of working-class activity in the new conditions(α) > consciousness of the masses (δ)(β) > development of capitalism (α)(γ) > hostility of the bourgeoisie (β)(δ) > alliance of enemies (γ).

4.Character of agitation and propaganda.No need for an illegal party

 ” ” ” propaganda of revolution (not hegemony)etc., etc.[BOX ENDS:]

[[ liquidationism ]].[BOX:]Manifestation of bourgeois counter revolutionary spirit among
Social-Democrats.

5.“Bird’s-eye view”=Third Duma.  Role of (Cadets)

{1}The exact date and the circumstances in which Lenin gave this report on
the political situation have not been established.

p. 243

{2}Lidvaliad—the case of the big swindler and speculator
E. Lidval and V. I. Gurko, Deputy Minister for the Interior. With Gurko’s
help, Lidval concluded a deal with the government to supply 10 million
poods of rye to the famine-stricken gubernias of Russia from October to
December 1906. Having received a sizable advance through Gurko from the
treasury, Lidval brought up less than 10 per cent of the total quantity of
grain to the railway lines by mid-December 1906. This embezzlement and
speculation on the famine were exposed and widely reported, forcing the
tsarist government to institute legal proceedings. But apart from being
removed from his post, Gurko was not punished in any way.

p. 243

{3}A reference to the resolution of the Fifth Conference of the
R.S.D.L.P. (All-Russia Conference of 1908), “The Present Moment and the
Tasks of the Party” (seeK.P.S.S. v rezolutsiyakh..., Part 1,
pp. 195–97).

p. 244

{4}A reference to the explanations by Minister of Public Education
L. A. Kasso in the Fourth Duma in connection with the question entered by
44 deputies on December 14 (27), 1912, over the arrest of 34 pupils of
secondary schools in St. Petersburg at a meeting in Vitmer’s private
school. The pupils were suspected by the secret police of belonging to an
illegal circle. The question was discussed at the 12th, 17th, 18th, 19th
and 20th sittings of the Duma. On February 6 (19), 1913, a majority adopted
a formula to proceed with the business of the Duma, recognising the
Minister’s explanations as being unsatisfactory.

p. 244